WKU (5-4, 3-2) at Marshall (6-3, 3-2)
Saturday, Nov. 11 | Joan C. Edwards Stadium | 5:30 p.m. CT
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Saturday, Nov. 11 | Joan C. Edwards Stadium | 5:30 p.m. CT
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| HILLTOPPERS AT THUNDERING HERD WKU returns to Marshall for the second consecutive season. |
The Matchup
WKU steps back into conference play for the final three games of the season this weekend, beginning with a return trip to Marshall. Since 2013, WKU is 14-2 in the month of November and has won 10 of their last 11 November games dating back to 2014. The game features Conference USA's two most successful programs since 2011. Over that span, WKU has won 57 games while Marshall has won 54.
Both teams enter the match-up on a two-game slide. The Hilltoppers are looking to avoid their first three-game losing streak since 2012 when they lost three of their final four regular season games.
Returning to a conference opponent in consecutive years has not happened in the FBS era and has not happened since 1980-81 when WKU played at Akron in consecutive seasons.
Scouting Marshall
Led by quarterback Chase Litton, Marshall screamed back to their usual form following a disappointing 3-9 season in 2016 which ended with a 60-6 defeat at home to the Hilltoppers. In roaring back to their typical self, Marshall ran out to a 6-1 record but has dropped their last two games against the resurgent Florida schools, at Florida Alantic and at home against Florida International.
In their first seven games, Litton threw 13 touchdowns to just three interceptions but has found the turnover bug in the past two weeks. Against FAU and FIU, Litton threw five touchdowns to six interceptions. For the Hilltoppers to come away victorious, keeping Litton in his recent slump will be key. Pressuring Litton, however, will be difficult as Marshall has allowed just four sacks this season - the second-best mark nationally.
Defensively, the Herd are the No. 2 scoring defense in Conference USA, surrendering just 19 points per game and the No. 3 defense overall, allowing 328 yards per game. They are balanced in their run and pass defense and are led by linebacker Chase Hancock, Conference USA's leader in total tackles at 88.
2017 Team Captains
WKU's season-long team captains were voted on at the end of fall camp, entirely by the players. Under Sanford, the team has one offensive captain, one defensive captain, one "trenches" captain (from either offensive or defensive line) and a rotating special teams captain.
Offenive Captain: QB Mike White
Defensive Captain: LB Joel Iyiegbuniwe
Trenches Captain: DL Derik Overstreet
Youth Movement
For the year, 23 players have earned their first career start as Hilltoppers on offense or defense, the third-most nationally, and 10 true freshman have seen game action. WKU trails Illinois (28), Ball State (28), Â and Baylor (26), for the most first-time starters while East Carolina (23), Utah State (23), Connecticut (21) and LSU (21) are the only others with 20 or more first-time starters.Â
Of that group, only WKU and LSU currently have winning records.Â
Additionally, 11 true freshman have seen game action: Kyle Bailey, Roger Cray, Antwon Kincade, DeAngelo Malone, Jakairi Moses, Ben Reeder, Latheron Rodgers-Anderson, Dionte Ruffin, Jacquez Sloan, Cole Spencer and Steven Witchoskey.
4-2-5 Defense Proving Stout
WKU's move to a 4-2-5 defense has paid off so far in 2017. Removing a pick-six allowed by the offense at Illinois, the Hilltopper defense has allowed just 206 points through eight games, the fewest through eight since 2007 (190 points). The 3,346 total yards allowed are the fewest since 2013. Clayton White's crew also averages 4.56 three-and-outs per game, the 14th best mark nationally or 37.3 percent of drives.
A Complete Performance Against Charlotte
WKU founds its offensive rhythm in a big way against Charlotte as the Hilltoppers churned out 627 yards of total offense, including 506 yards through the air, both season-highs by far. It was arguably the most complete performance this season by the team, just six games in to the installation of new offensive and defensive schemes.
Other marks of note included:
- Mike White's monster day (398 passing yards, 5 TDs, 1 rush TD) can stand by itself, but he's the only quarterback in the FBS this season to hit those marks while also completing 70-percent of his passes in a victory.
- The 398 yards are the second-most by a Conference USA passer this season and the most by a C-USA quarterback in a conference game.
- As a team, WKU's 506 yards passing were the fifth-most in a single game in school history.
- WKU ran 92 plays in the game, the eighth-most in a single game in school history.
- The 22 first downs via the pass tied for the second-most in a game in school history while the 34 first downs overall tied for fourth-most in a game in school history.
- The Hilltoppers 4-2-5 defense allowed just 61 yards passing, the fewest allowed to a conference opponent in the program's FBS history.
- Charlotte tallied just nine first downs overall, the fifth-fewest allowed to an opponent in WKU's FBS history. Of those nine first downs, just two came via the pass, the fewest ever allowed to an FBS opponent.
Season Helmet Stickers
WKU will wear a pair of helmet stickers this season, honoring two former Hilltoppers who passed away during the offseason: former assistant coach Butch Gilbert and former tight end Mitchell Henry.
Gilbert regularly passed out butterscotch candies to players and coaches during his visits to practice, which WKU commemorates with a wrapped candy as a helmet sticker. To commemorate Henry, WKU has an "MH" sticker on the helmet.
Who's Next?
With the graduation of Forrest Lamp, Darrell Williams, Max Halpin, Taywan Taylor, Anthony Wales, and Nicholas Norris, the opportunity to make a name for yourself is wide open for the 2017 Hilltoppers. All six had NFL opportunities following their senior campaign and three (Lamp, Taylor, and Williams) made rosters. Between the three offensive lineman (Lamp, Williams, and Halpin), they combined for 140 games played and 129 starts - nearly all of them together. Wales tallied 1,621 rushing yards and led the nation in scoring and touchdowns, while Taylor and Norris combined for over 7,000 receiving yards for their careers as they went 1-2 in the record books in every major receiving category both season and career.
All totaled, those six played in 289 combined games with a staggering 209 combined starts.
The Sanford Era Begins
WKU is in the first season of the Mike Sanford era which began at home with a 31-17 victory over Eastern Kentucky. The nation's second-youngest head coach, Sanford's youth is deceptive. When he was hired on December 14, Sanford was, in fact, more experienced at that point in his coaching career than either of WKU's previous two "first-timers" in Jeff Brohm and Willie Taggart. He was one of just four rookie head coaches (out of 10) in 2017 to win his debut and one of only 12 new coaches overall (out of 24) to win his season opener.
Sanford has 12 years of FBS coaching experience while his predecessors had just 11 when they landed their first head coaching job on The Hill. Additionally, the head Hilltopper has been to five Bowl Championship Series (BCS) or New Year's Six bowl games, compared to just one combined with the previous two first-timers.
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